Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
The Runaway Pumpkin
Illustrator: S.D. Schindler
Picture Book
For ages 4 to 6
Scholastic, 2003 ISBN: 978-0439474221
One Halloween Buck, Billy, and little Lil Baxter climb a hill near town. At the top they find an enormous, a simply enormous pumpkin. Naturally the children are thrilled with their find and without thinking to hard about what they are doing, Buck and Billy cut the pumpkin loose. They then begin to roll the pumpkin down the hill, but because the mammoth squash is so big it quickly gets away from them "thumpin' bumpin'" down the slope.
In no time at all the pumpkin has left a trail of chaos in its wake. Momma Baxter's pig style is "busted through" and Grandpa Baxter is "knocked for a loop." Will anyone be able to stop the wayward vegetable?
As they read this funny holiday title children will have a grand time joining in to say the wonderful onomatopoeic words that are used to describe the pumpkin's progress down the hill. In fact the book is such fun, with its rhyming text and its amusing artwork, that it is likely that children will want to read this title over and over.